Two children hospitalized as two-alarm fire rips through Antioch townhouses

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Contra Costa Fire Protection firefighters work on a fire at the 2700 block
of Barcelona Circle in Antioch on Tuesday, July 10. Two children were taken
to a hospital in the fire that ripped through eight units of a townhouse
complex, leaving them uninhabitable.
(Photo by Judith Prieve/Staff)

ANTIOCH — A two-alarm fire hospitalized two children and ripped through a section of townhouses Tuesday afternoon, a fire official said.

Both children inhaled smoke but were expected to be OK after being taken by ambulance to an hospital, said Fire Marshal Robert Marshall of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Marshall could not immediately confirm the age of either child.

The fire started around 1:30 p.m. and left all eight units in the complex of townhouses in the 2700 block of Barcelona Circle uninhabitable, Marshall said. Fire crews believe the blaze began in one of the units that runs up against nearby Buchanan Road.

“Two of the units were completely destroyed,” Marshall said. “Two of them were severely damaged.”

Fire officials were working to determine how many people would need to find new housing.

Contra Costa Fire Protection firefighters use a crane to pour water on the rooftops at a townhouse complex fire at the 2700 block of Barcelona Circle in Antioch on Tuesday, July 10, 2018. Two children were taken to a hospital in the fire that ripped through eight of the units, leaving them uninhabitable. (Photo by Judith Prieve/Staff)

Firefighters controlled the blaze by 2:15 p.m., and nobody else was injured, Marshall said. A steadily increasing wind blew as crews worked to overhaul the site and keep it from re-igniting, but Marshall said crews were fortunate that the gusts were considerably more moderate during their initial arrival.

“The wind played some role in this one,” he said. “How much it played is hard to say.”

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